Homelessness In America Essay

Homelessness in America is more serious than people think. There are more vacant homes in America than homeless people. That should set off alarms in people’s heads. Also, not just old men and women are homeless. The LGBTQ community has a lot of people out on the street, mostly due to the lack of acceptance they receive from other people. There’s also a huge risk for transgenders in shelters, some even being turned away and banned from some homes (LGBT Homeless 1). 20% of the whole homeless population is LGBTQ, which might not sound like a lot, but that equals to a lot. It seems that the portion of the LGBTQ community that is homeless are more prone to abuse and mistreatment as well. 58.7% of the LGBTQ youth have been sexually assaulted or victimized. That is a sickening number. The suicide rate is also very high, it being around 62%. It’s also shown that homeless heterosexuals aren’t prone like the LGBTQ are, which is also a sad thing to hear (LGBT Homeless 1).
Sadly, a large reason why the LGBTQ community are homeless is because family and religion. Mostly, people aren’t very open to transgenders. Transgenders are coming out more and more now, which is a shock to some people. It’s also disappointing to see, since transgenders are just like everybody else. “According to the Family Acceptance Project, LGBTQ youth who come from highly rejecting families are more than eight times as likely to have attempted suicide as LGBTQ peers with little to no family rejection” (Working Together for Homeless LGBTQ Youth 1). Overtime, the traumatic experiences can ruin a person mentally, emotionally, and physically. The risks of getting STIs and engaging in risky sexual activities are also very high for the homeless LGBTQ